Pipe cleaner



Patented Aug. 25, 194.?,l

.e UNITED? srg'rgs 3 Claims.

This invention relates to p ipe cleaners and has for its object to combine in one convenient tool of attractive appearance and low manufacturing cost all the necessaryimplements for cleaning the bowl and stem of ordinary tobacco pipes.

A further objectof the invention is to provide a device of this kind wherein the several implements, although 'of ample size to serve their intended purpose effectively, are so associated as to be folded together compactly so as to be readily carried in the pocket.

In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my improved pipe cleaner, and in said drawing- Fig. 1 is a perspective view thereof with the various elements folded together;

Fig. 2 is a similar view with the various elements extended;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view on line 3-3 of Fig. 1 but on an enlarged scale; and

Figs. 4 and 5 are transverse sectional views on lines 4 4, 5-5, respectively, of Fig. 1, also on an enlarged scale.

Referring to the drawing, I and 2 represent, respectively, duplicate stampings out of which the body of the implement is constructed. These stampings comprise a middle fiat portion or stem 3 with side wings 4 at an angle of about 45 degrees to the middle flat portion, as shown more particularly in Fig. 5. The parts I and 2 are assembled back to back as shown, and are fastened together by a rivet so that the four wings 4 project outwardly in substantially radial direction from the middle line of the central portion. The outer edges of the wings are properly shaped to fit the contour of a pipe bowl so that the assembled parts form an eiicient reamer for loosening the charred residue of tobacco which accumulates as a cake on the inside of the bowl.

The upper ends of the pieces I and 2 are formed with laterally extending wings 5 which provide a handle for the implement when it is used as a reamer, and also provide means for the attachment of a stem-cleaning pin 6 and a scraping or tamping member 1. As shown in Figs. 2 and 4, particularly, the stem cleaner and scraper are formed at their upper ends with eyes which t between the extending wings 5 of the pieces I and 2. The wings are punched to receive eyelets 8 which serve the dual purpose of holding the wings together and forming bearings for the stemcleaner and scraper. The upper ends of the parts I and 2 are oifset slightly, as indicated at IB, from the middle portion 3 to provide the neces- (Cl. IBI-243) and scraper. By this arrangement these two elements, when folded in the position shown in Fig. l, lie in the same plane as the middle portions 3 of the parts I and 2, and between the adjacent Wings or blades 4 of the reamer.

The tamping element @preferably comprises a shank II and a transverse tamping plate I2, the shank I! being slightly longer than the cleaner 6 so that when the parts are foldeed together the plate I2 will extend across the ends of the r'eaming blades and also under the point of the stemcleaner, which if exposed would tend to catch in the pocket of the user, with the center of the tamping plate I2 substantially coinciding with the axis of rotation of the reamer.

The apparatus is made throughout of simple punch-press parts and with little labor cost. By arranging the parts so that when folded the several implements are brought together in parallel arrangement, the parts may be made of ample size to serve their purpose without unduly increasing the bulk of the implement when the parts are folded together.

It will, of course, be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise details herein shown and described.

Other changes may also be made within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A pipe cleaning implement comprising a reamer consisting of two sheet metal parts held in contact along a middle part corresponding substantially with the axis of rotation of the reamer, both said sheet metal parts having scraper blades extending substantially radially outward from said axis of rotation angularly spaced'approximately 90 from each other, the middle contacting portions of said sheet metal parts extending axially beyond said scraping blades and provided with radially extending handle-forming wings, said wings being angularly positioned to lie in a plane intermediate the planes of two adjacent scraping blades, a tamping element including a tamping plate and a shank extending from adjacent an edge thereof and pivoted on one of said handle-forming wings, the length of said shank being such that when it is moved to a position to lie intermediate the before-mentioned scraper blades the offset tamping plate will extend across the ends of said blades and intersect the axis of rotation.

2. A pipe cleaning implement comprising a reamer consisting of two sheet metal parts held in contact along a middle part corresponding sary space between them for the stem-cleaner substantially with the axis of rotation of the reamer, both said sheet metal parts having scraper blades extending substantially radially outward from said axis of rotation angularly spaced approximately 90 from each other, the middle contacting portions of said sheet metal parts extending axially beyond said scraping blades and provided with radially extending handle-forming wings, said wings being angularly positioned to lie in a plane intermediate the planes of two adjacent blades, a tamping element pivoted on one of said handle-forming wings and having at its outer end a tamping plate, and a stem-cleaning element similarly pivoted to an oppositely extending handle-forming wing and adapted to be moved to a position between the two opposite scraper blades, the length of the shank of the tamping element and the arrangement of the parts being such that when the shank of the tamping element and the stem cleaning element, respectively, are moved to positions intermediate the scraper blades, the tamping plate will extend across the ends of said blades and the end of the stem cleaning element with the center of the plate substantially coinciding with axis of rotation of the reamer.

3. A pipe cleaning implement comprising a reamer consisting-of two sheet metal parts held in contact along a middle part corresponding substantially with the axis of rotation of the reamer, both said sheet metal parts having scraper blades extending substantially radially outward from said axis of rotation angularly spaced approximately from each other, the middle contacting portions of said sheet metal parts extending axially beyond said scraping blades and provided with radially extending handle-forming wings, said wings being angularly positioned to lie in a plane intermediate the planes of two adjacent blades, a tamping element including a tamping plate and a shank extending from adjacent an edge thereof and pivoted on one of said handle-forming wings, the length of said shank being such that when it is moved to a position to lie intermediate the before-mentioned scraper blades the offset tamping Vplate will extend across the ends of said blades and intersect the axis of rotation, and a stemcleaning element similarly pvoted to an oppositely extending handle-forming wing and adapted to be moved to a position between the two opposite scraper blades and with its end covered by said tamping' plate, the pivots of said tamping element and said stem cleaning element comprising eyelets which serve also to hold the two sheet metal parts together.

LEON SCHWALBE. 

